My fridge is on fire.

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When I got home, the fridge was on fire. The kitchen smelled of smoke, but I couldn't detect the source of the trouble, and at first thought perhaps Craig (housemate) had simply overcooked something before I arrived. Then I heard a popping and buzzing from the freezer door, where our fridge has one of those ice/cold water dispensers, and I saw a stream of smoke begin to pour out of it. We don't have a water line running up to the dispenser, so it never gets used, but apparently whatever electrical contraption lives there was still getting juice, and said juice shorted out the wiring and started to burn it up. So I woke Craig from his nap, went outside and cut off the main breaker, we rocked the box forward until the outlet was reachable, unplugged the appliance, and finally turned power back on in the house. This done, we emptied the contents of the fridge's freezer section into the chest freezer (with some triage, because our presently vacationing landlady likes to freeze fucking everything, so to make room for the stuff that really needed a deep freeze treatment, we had to set aside all manner of rices, flours, pastas and similar dry-grains type stuff.) So I finally grabbed my last Shiner Bock out the fridge, along with the ingredients I had intended to use for dinner tonight anyway, closed the door, and we'll probably be able to eat a pretty significant amount of the stuff before it goes bad.

But uh...anybody in town up for some fire-panic turkey blackbean chili?

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 22:58 (nineteen years ago)

this is craig's fault

― gear (gear), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 23:02 (nineteen years ago)

Him and his fucking list!

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 23:04 (nineteen years ago)

craigslist

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 23:20 (nineteen years ago)

fridge's on fire, better throw it in the water

― H2-H4 (H2-H4), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 23:22 (nineteen years ago)

http://static.flickr.com/8/7135489_836959ada6_m.jpg

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 27 September 2006 23:23 (nineteen years ago)

Him and his fucking list!

haha

we have no water b/c my boyfriend's attempts to relocate our washing machine have backfired and now there are leaks. in the plumbing. so we can't turn on the water. ugh.

― Sam: Screwed and Chopped (Molly Jones), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 23:37 (nineteen years ago)

we had to set aside all manner of rices, flours, pastas and similar dry-grains type stuff

!?!?!? Out of a freezer? What kind of loon is yr landlady?

And why am I singing "the fridge, the fridge, the fridge is on fire..."

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 23:57 (nineteen years ago)

keeping such items refrigerated (or frozen even) prevents larvae from hatching. As someone who has had moths fly out of dry products on more than one occasion I can understand the urge.

― Sam: Screwed and Chopped (Molly Jones), Thursday, 28 September 2006 00:12 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, it's not loony where you have weevil infestations sometimes.

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Thursday, 28 September 2006 00:22 (nineteen years ago)

But moisture! In the flour and rice! Cannot be good!

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 28 September 2006 00:24 (nineteen years ago)

no weevils = bland

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 28 September 2006 00:25 (nineteen years ago)

Fridge I can kinda understand mind you - but then again that seems to simply be a "seal it up somewhere the bugs cant get to" which would be achieved with a good sealed container.

Which I never bother with myself, so I too get weevils, heh.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 28 September 2006 00:25 (nineteen years ago)

all the food in my apartment is in the fridge right now -- i'm having a problem with house crickets and i don't want them crawling into anything.

― service comedy (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 28 September 2006 00:26 (nineteen years ago)

we still have no water! G's been to Home Depot three times since I got home. Should I go to work tomorrow without a shower?

― Sam: Screwed and Chopped (Molly Jones), Thursday, 28 September 2006 00:26 (nineteen years ago)

But moisture! In the flour and rice! Cannot be good!

are you shatner?

― service comedy (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 28 September 2006 00:27 (nineteen years ago)

As long as it stays frozen, not a prob. You take it out to cook, and add moisture then anyway.

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Thursday, 28 September 2006 00:29 (nineteen years ago)

"a good sealed container."

Yeah, I'd like to get her to accept the idea of those rubber-gasket mason jar type containers like my folks had when I were a tot, but it would take up a lot of shelf/cabinet space. On the other hand, now it takes up space we have to spend money refrigerating, so maybe I can appeal to her sense of stinginess.

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Thursday, 28 September 2006 00:33 (nineteen years ago)

so wait Austin, do you live with your landlady?

― Sam: Screwed and Chopped (Molly Jones), Thursday, 28 September 2006 00:35 (nineteen years ago)

I gotta room in an old house in Swede Hill, so, yeah.

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Thursday, 28 September 2006 00:47 (nineteen years ago)

I still have no water. And it was 91 today in Austin. :(

― Sam: Screwed and Chopped (Molly Jones), Thursday, 28 September 2006 00:56 (nineteen years ago)

98.6

Oh wait, you mean...

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Thursday, 28 September 2006 00:59 (nineteen years ago)

Your fridge is on fire? Well you'd better go catch it!

― Party Time Country Female (pullapartgirl), Thursday, 28 September 2006 01:30 (nineteen years ago)

(cue Ohio Players)

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Thursday, 28 September 2006 01:50 (nineteen years ago)

http://sportsmed.starwave.com/i/magazine/new/william_perry.jpg

― timmy tannin (pompous), Thursday, 28 September 2006 01:53 (nineteen years ago)

today we set the frying pan on fire! Flames almost a foot tall! Unlike your fridge, however, it was on a hot stove, and involved almost no food being ruined and no equipment being lost. So my sympathies.

― Maria (Maria), Thursday, 28 September 2006 01:57 (nineteen years ago)

i got slightly overheated at the gym, so my sympathies also.

― estela (estela), Thursday, 28 September 2006 02:02 (nineteen years ago)

Aw, thanks you guys. I hope everyone who's posted here doesn't burn down their home in a kitchen fire or overexert themselves at spinning class (or, uh, whatever.)

Anyway, while it's certainly inconvenient and all, it's not really very bad. There's a pretty good chance the fridge can be repaired, I think, and it was nearly time for a trip to the grocery anyway, so not much food will be lost. Having to keep the milk, cheese, butter and beer in ice chests ain't exactly roughing it, all things considered.

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Thursday, 28 September 2006 02:32 (nineteen years ago)

that's like the opposite of what a fridge is supposed to do. Have you called Bizarro Superman?

― Butt Dickass (Dick Butkus), Thursday, 28 September 2006 05:41 (nineteen years ago)

Trayce, you want to freeze flour if you're not going to be using it within a few months -- it'll last much, much longer.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 28 September 2006 05:44 (nineteen years ago)

I'm totally amazed, it just seems like something so not-right somehow. But the logic is there re bugs etc :)

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 28 September 2006 06:08 (nineteen years ago)

Mind you I never need my flour/pasta/rice to last more than a month, I go thru it that fast.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 28 September 2006 06:09 (nineteen years ago)

I'M GOIN TO POST SOMETHIN NOW ON ILM TAT MIGHT SEEM HOMOPHOBIC-- BUT I AM NOT AFRAID OF FAGS. Just a heads up.

― Butt Dickass (Dick Butkus), Thursday, 28 September 2006 06:19 (nineteen years ago)

> now it takes up space we have to spend money refrigerating

apparently a full fridge is more efficient than an half empty fridge - less warm air gets in every time you open the door. whether this is still true with a fridge that is burning i don't know.

― Koogy Yonderboy (koogs), Thursday, 28 September 2006 07:56 (nineteen years ago)

i'm in Ur fridge, burnin ur foodz!

― JonnyRotten (JonnyRotten), Thursday, 28 September 2006 10:03 (nineteen years ago)

THE CULPRIT

http://www.44gatti.net/public/catfridge.jpg

― === temporary username === (Mark C), Thursday, 28 September 2006 10:14 (nineteen years ago)

Perhaps a less cumbersome method for keeping pseky weevils out of dry goods: Bay leaves will keep weevils out of stored flour, cornmeal, and
other grains. A whole bay leaf laid on the top will not flavor the
food at all, but will protect a whole container full. Probably the dry goods will remain DRY too and not get all clumpy (BLEECH!). Now keeping pesky cats outta the fridge is a whole 'nother matter!

And might be good to have some baking soda nearby for those pesky fridge fires. (either that or marshmallows and chocolate for making s'mores)

― Wiggy (Wiggy), Thursday, 28 September 2006 20:57 (nineteen years ago)

Freezing for a certain number of days is a good way to kill any EXISTING larvae that might be in your products at the time of purchase. That way they never hatch (and I think you wash them out of rice during the pre-cooking rinse -- do the larvae float? something like that). KEEPING the buggers out until you use up the grain is pretty much a matter of air-tight containers from that point on.

― Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 28 September 2006 21:02 (nineteen years ago)

Our new fridge is being delivered today. This means I have to stay home until it gets here (hopefully not too long, now.) It will be pretty much like that last one, only brand new instead of eight years old, $700 instead of $50, and the icemaker and watercooler will be functional instead of on fire.

― It's the lazy and immoral way to become super hip. (Austin, Still), Thursday, 5 October 2006 14:21 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/4930/throughscreennu3.jpg http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/9352/uphillgo0.jpg

― It's the lazy and immoral way to become super hip. (Austin, Still), Saturday, 18 November 2006 18:10 (nineteen years ago)

that is the exact opposite of what a fridge is 'posed to do.

― Bobby Ganush (Uri Frendimein), Sunday, 19 November 2006 00:32 (nineteen years ago)

Did you take a picture for your photo album?

http://archive.salon.com/tech/review/2000/02/17/sims/story.jpg

― Abbott (Abbott), Sunday, 19 November 2006 00:49 (nineteen years ago)

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